Stinking goats!! Just a rant about them escaping from fences

[noobiechickenlady]

I swear my goat is a masochist...

We are portioning the back yard (the "pasture" ) into paddocks so we can rotate. Okay, sounds easy enough, lets try just running electric.
2 strands on a 5 mile charger. Got a nice little zing to it. I've grabbed it a couple of times or bent over & touched my rear to it. Ouch!
They go right through it.

3 strands on same charger.
They go right through it. Using their nose, turned sideways to prevent contact with the sensitive tip, then lift the wire & slither through.

Okay, 50 mile charger is on sale. 4 joules.
Sounds like a 22 going off when it pops. Hitting over 7,000 volts everywhere along the fence. Run 5 lines, the lowest 1/2" above careful scalped ground. Then 6", 6", 12" & 12"
Yep, she goes right through it.
The little one has learned she really, really doesn't like it, so she stayed inside.

It popped Dixie 4 times the last time she went through. I heard every one of them. She moaned about it, we cut it off, took her back across the fence & turned it back on.

That was Monday morning.
Didn't try it Tuesday. Didn't try it Wednesday.
Today... she goes right through it.
DH turned it off, took her back across & turned it back on.
It's not even fazing her, even though its still registering over 7,000 and still sounds like a 22 going off.

She had hay & water, she'd been fed, petted, loved on.
There is actually some good greening in the pasture.
What gives???? *mutter mutter grumble*

I'm going to have to buy a roll of welded wire, aren't I? *heavy sigh*

 

[Wannabefree]

Welded wire with a strand of barb wire at the top keeps mine in....when they don't decide to kick the gate open...yeah that happened this morning. :/ Then she went and hid under the closed end of my back deck, and I turned the hose on the brat until she decided to come out so I could get her. We had the barbecue talk all the way back to her quarters and she hasn't tried since, but that doesn't mean she won't get hosed again in the near future. Do they ever learn?!?!

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Growing up, we always did six strands.

 

[glenolam]

Oh man....gotta love them goats.

What about putting some of the wires, like the one at nose height, on a 1" extender instead of the 1/2" ones? That way she'd get zapped in her nose before she even thought about the rest of the way.

From what I've learned/read/been told once they get zapped they either go forward or backward depending on where they're shocked. If it's the rump/rear or anywhere behind the nose, they go forward. If it's in the kisser, they go backwards.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

When I use the electric tape (1/2" polytape) I use between 2 and 4 strands, depending on the animals or area. My buckling kept getting out last year, so I had to figure a way to make him realize the fence was bad. He would shoot through so quickly he wouldnt' get shocked.

I haltered him and stood on the outside of the fence with him on the inside. Then I pulled him into the fence so he'd get shocked on his nose. I did this 3 times, right in a row. He'd get shocked, jump back, and I'd pull him back into the fence. That solved that problem! It wasn't harmful to him, only uncomfortable. He stayed in after that. I also had to do that to a sheep with lots of wool...they don't get shocked through their wool.

 

[savingdogs]

 

[noobiechickenlady]

We did try to force them through the fence. It is really, really hard to push a goat into a fence without zapping yourself... Especially when she outweighs you by a good 25 lbs now that you've lost all your 8 year old baby weight. Ouch, yeah the new one has a serious pop to it.

But we did it the first day. And again after the new charger was installed. Umbra (the yearling) wanted no part of it and has not gone near it since. It got Dixie on the nose and Umbra on the lips. I can't even bribe Umbra near it with rabbit pellets. That's what I used the first time with her, just a couple of rabbit pellets in a chicken feed bucket set down just outside the fence (the chickens are a different shape & color than their feed buckets). Those pellets are like crack for my ladies. I treat them like any other treat, very small quantities.

Anyway, after she went through it yesterday, DH locked her in the goat shed (yes, with hay & water & air) until I got home. Then I went over (with the fence off) and messed with the fence where they could see me. Then DH turned it back on, while I kept "messing" with it. Then I called Dixie and started through with her. She went fairly willingly right up til her lips contacted the wire. POP, right in the kisser. Then I couldn't get her near it again.

I think I'm going to need to do it a few more times, just to reinforce it. Darn goats!!!

That makes a lot of sense glen... She got first zapped on the side of her face both times she made it through on the big charger.
If she goes through again, I'll run a 6th wire or get the welded wire & top it with the electric.
And at the hosed goat & bbq talk! hehehe

 

[glenolam]

Love it! POW...Right in the Kisser!

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Love it! POW...Right in the Kisser!

Do you watch Family Guy?

 

[glenolam]

Why no, I don't....please do expand....